Diet for the Deployed - Mass Gain

[Donman1001]

I am looking for some advise on a diet and exercise plan. I am currently 20 years old 5' 7'' and weigh 160 with 7-8% body fat. I am trying to bulk up to around 190 but keep around the same BF if possible even less 6% by the time I leave to go home in roughly 9 months. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated and money is not an issue so just tell me what I will be needing.

[Times Roman]

Welcome to the diet section. Glad you found it!
Let me give you a few things to think about, and i'm sure someone will step in....
Do you know your BMR (Base metabolic rate). this is the number of calories you need to maintain your weight, given your age, height, weight, physical activity level. The reason you need to know this is so that you can begin to plan to hit your target weight. Search for that here in the diet section to gain a better understanding of how many extra calories per week above your BMR you need to gain 1 extra pound per week. Your target is going to be a challange, so let's get started.
Additionally, you need to understand, more than just calories, you need to understand the correct balance of macros (protein/carbs/fat) for a bulking diet. A real rough estimate would be 40/40/20, but do your homework.
Since you cannot PM anyone yet, you can email me at rk8975 at hotmail.com and i can send you a calculator to calculate your caloric intake and the macro splits expressed as an excel spreadsheet. this will really help you get a handle on how much you need to eat to hit your goals.
Additionally, you also need to understand that the body can only metabolize food for a couple of hours. so if you want to keep your body supplied with the building blocks essential for growing muscle, you will need to be eating every two to three hours. this means 6+ meals a day. and don't forget the casean protein, a couple of scoops, right before bed. It is a very slow metabolizing protein, lasting up to 8 hours while you sleep, to keep your body supplied with all the protein during this time.
Now that you have a basic idea, you need to go and check out some of the sample meal programs. I understand your diet challanges. But your diet will need much more than MRE's. Invest in some protein powder.

Here is a small list for you to buy
Protein Powder (soy, whey, casean combo)
Casean powder
BCAA's
Creatine
Multivitamin
Gammo-O (can you get this off the internet? it is a derivitive of rice oil)
Arginine powder (pre workout, or a prework out mix containing arginine such as NO Blast)
Glutamine (aids in muscle recovery and repair) - pre workout
Honey - eat about a third of a cup post workout, along with a scoop or two of protein powder in a shake

Ultimately, you will have a difficult time with 30 pounds in 9 months. I would keep your cardio to a minimum, if that is possible with your occupation. as much weight as you want to gain, undoubtedly some of it will be fat. Accept it. Once you get home, you can cut if you like. A clean 30 lbs in 9 months, I just don't really know how to do that, or if it is possible.

There are a multitude of diet gurus here that will be abble to give you better information. Once you are done here, you need to really gain an understading of how to work out and bulk up...

http://forums.steroid.com/forumdispl...KOUT-QUESTIONS

I'll pass the torch to someone else at this time.... I need to hit the rack, it's getting late in Kabul!

Good luck!

[musclestack]

I don't like to say that anything is impossible, but 30 pounds of lbm in 9 months is a stretch to put it modestly. Since you're 160 lbs and relatively low bf, I'm assuming you don't have an extreme amount of knowledge when it comes to diet/bodybuilding, so on the other hand, if you start eating like a horse, I'm sure you can put on a significant amount of muscle in a short amount of time due to 'newb' gains. Just EAT, EAT, EAT, and you'll be surprised by the gains.

Read through the stickies and other members' threads here to come up with a rough diet plan. Post it here in a new thread, and I and other members can fine tune it to make it suit your stats/goals. Times Roman gave you some solid info, however, the supplements he advised you to buy will not do ANYTHING if the rest of your diet is not in check (sorry TR). 30 pounds of lbm is a lifestyle change, not a hobby or something we do with our free time. Dieting/training, to me and other serious members on this board, is more or less a part-time job lol!

There's a lot more basic info I could post here about diet/training, but everything you need to know you can find by using the search feature. Just read, read, read, and you will have the answers to how to reach your goals. Personally, I would set your sites a bit lower than 30 pounds of lbm in 9 months, but I think it's great to dream big. Just get dialed in, and see how far you can take it. Best of luck, bro.

[Donman1001]

Thanks for the great information from both of you, I greatly appreciate it. Although 30 pounds in 9 months may sounds like a stretch it is always better to dream big and come up short then set your goals low and reach them with no effort then you have no reason to continue on. I have always set my goals high from being a grade A athlete in highschool and training to be the best I possibly can be for me and my fire team. And even if it is not 30 pounds of LBM i can always cut when i get back to the states. I also realize that this is serious and is going to take some serious work on my part but I look forward to the challenge because I am not someone to give up easily. You are also right about me not having extreme knowledge of diet/bodybuilding which is why I come to all of you for your professional help. I also think that I am at least at a decent starting point with the small amount of knowledge I have.

[tbody66]

At 20 years of age you may not even be done growing yet and your body could still be producing enough testosterone to provide you with amazing results. Post your exact current diet and workout routine with specific exercises/sets/reps/poundages and we will help you get it dialed in. Post pics for us to better help as well.

[Donman1001]

To tbody66 for an exact current diet and workout routine it is very sketchy atm because I really have no diet set up yet and I really dont know what my sets reps poundages for any exercise because I have not been writing anything down. As for pics i can get some up but it isnt really anything impressive.

[Donman1001]

Ok, I have started filling out a diet plan with the possible food choices I have, and will hopefully have it up by tomorrow afternoon. I would like some imput on it once I get it up.

[Donman1001]

I will also try to add a workout schudele asap once i write down my info while in the gym.

[Donman1001]

ok, got some pics up, keep in mind this is with no diet and a very sketchy workout routine until I get my weights down.

[Donman1001]

[Donman1001]

[wmaousley]

I see your in the US Army In Afghanistan, keep your head up bro.

BTW looking good, keep it up and you will build a nice physique

[Donman1001]

Put up 255 in the gym today for a Battalion Benching competition. I was fairly suprised for how rarly i work chest. And i won and recieved a coin from the Battalion CSM what a great day.

[neverstoptraining]

nice...^

[Donman1001]

Ok, for a little more insite it has been 3 weeks since i posted this and i am currently weighing 164.6. I have invested in everything that Times Roman has suggested except for the honey and instead of arginine powder i have superpump max along with Amino acid 2222 pills. My diet consists of roughly 35-45% carbs 35-45% protien and 15-20% fat depending on the food choices i have for the day. My bench is at 155L-7 180M-7 205H-5 180M-7 180M-7 increasing the weights 5 pounds each week, other workouts i am still attempting to fine tune my other lifts weights but they go something like: Incline bench 7L 7M 5H 7M, Decline Dumbell bench 7L 7M 5H 7M and so forth. I work out major muscle groups with 3 excersises a day with at least 2 days rest inbetween muscle groups. Any suggestions?